A survey of gross pathologic conditions of cattle presented for slaughter in the southeastern United States

Abstract

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, cattle slaughtered in 2017 totaled 32.2 million animals and approximately 6.4 million animals were adult cull cattle (USDA 2016; USDA-NASS 2016). This harvest accounts for an estimated 5.4 billion pounds of beef or 20.7% of the 2017, US beef production. In the Southeastern US, the production of beef from cull cattle included 583,300 animals or approximately 90% of the total animals harvested in the region. Establishing the prevalence of diseases within this population is necessary for improving the quality and profitability of this sector of the industry. The objectives of this study were; 1) determine the prevalence of gross pathologic conditions, 2) characterize the type and frequency of conditions eliciting carcass condemnation, and 3) evaluate the extent of carcass bruising in cull cattle presented to slaughter and originating from farms in the southeastern United States.